Italian grandparents step in after schools close

Rome, Mar 6 (AP) Italian grandparents are ignoring a government plea to stay home to contain the spread of the new coronavirus and are instead stepping in as last-minute baby-sitters after schools were closed nationwide. With 148 virus deaths, Italy is the epicenter of the outbreak in Europe. It also has the world's oldest population after Japan. And the elderly are particularly vulnerable to the new virus.

Schools nationwide were closed Wednesday, leaving 8.4 million students with no place to go for the next two weeks. So, despite a government decree that aims to curtail the spread of the virus among the most vulnerable, Roman playgrounds indicate the measures had the unintended boomerang effect of sending the elderly out on duty at the nation's sandboxes, swings and jungle gyms.

One grandfather, Lorenzo Romano, says he is happy to look after his grandchildren, regardless of the risk to his health, because he wants them around him more. (AP) CPS.